Toledo Knights: Tiger by the Tail

[flynnarrel]

Semilla

Notice (1d20+13=20)

"Correction, may be prehistoric, shaken free by an earthquake or explosion." Semilla says in wonder.

Warned by Technomancer's words Semilla tries a different approach.

She pictures a warm place, the son is hot and the climate matches what she saw in the past. In her mind, men and women wearing jackets emblazened with N.O.R.C.S. are there and they give off a 'friend-not-food' vibe. They bring the plant creature water and nutrients. She projects that this image can be a reality for the plant creature if it only trusts Semilla.

[FuzzyBoots]

Buzz
HP: 1
Status: Bruised 1

Buzz jetted down through the tunnel and fetched the doctor. While checking the good doctor over, she watched Semilla and was mildly unsure as to what was happening. Semilla stood before the plant, swaying and emitting gentle rustling sounds and... Did she just fart? No, doesn't smell like that, but she must have some sort of sense-based communication.
She glanced up at Technomancer and Shortcut.
"It's not attacking her... that's good, right?"

[sirzanek]

Shortcut

"Well, at least it isn't actively bad..." Corey says. With Buzz off down the tunnel, Technomancer in the air, and Semilla nose deep in the ground, Shortcut really didn't know where to go. Bouncing from rift to rift, he followed Buzz, if for nothing more than to stay close to everyone to lend support, and possibly whisk the doc to safety should he prove superfluous if things went sideways.

[Bluecross]

GM:-



Buzz

Buzz grabs the semi-conscious Doctor and speeds her down the tunnel and back to a fairly safe distance from the plant. She has to gently lay Dr. Gillies down, as she's not capable of standing up. The Doctor moans a little, softly, and Buzz can just make out the word "Water".



Semilla

Semilla continues her communication with the plant, trying to reassure it. She senses that it does in some way 'remember' being cared for, but that was long ago for the plant. Now it feels old, and ready to pass on it's life to a new generation of plants, as is the way of such things.

Looking at the plant, Semilla realises that it's going to split right open, very soon.


Technomancer

From his higher position, Travis has perhaps the best overall view of what's happening. Below him are the Doctor, Buzz and Shortcut, and ahead of them, much closer to the plant is Semilla. The plant thing continues to swell ominously. Looking through his goggles, fiddling with various settings, Technomancer notices something else... ... there's a faint but definite 'line' stretching uphill behind the plant thing, running along the ground. It looks quite like the main roots that connect the main plant thing (this one) and the other three, but it goes away from them, up towards the mountain, disappearing in some rocks.


Shortcut

Corey does his best to be helpful, a bit unsure of his role, and settles on protecting the Doctor and his team-mates as best he can. Perhaps because he's not so immediately involved as the others, Shortcut notices something as he followed Buzz to the end of the tunnel.

Right at the end, quite close to the plant thing, there's a root hanging down into the tunnel. It looks old compared to the other roots of the plant, but what's caught Corey's eye is that it's twined around - growing out of - a small skeleton. A rat skeleton.





KrrrAACCK -OOM !


The plant thing explodes!

The fronds on the top of the plant fly outwards and upwards as it 'blows it's top', and about 20 'Flyers' come out, shooting upwards into the air. This is almost instantly followed by the stem bursting open on several sides, flinging out about 40 'Grabbers'. The whole thing is accompanied by a rather loud tearing crack and a shockwave that is strong enough to take Semilla off her feet.

The Flyers: Roughly egg-shaped dark brown seed capsules about 8-10 inches long, with two brown 'wings' on top that rotate spasmodically. The wings are about 16 inches long, and look like this:



The Grabbers: Seed capsules shaped like the Flyers, but a little smaller. These however, are covered with numerous twisted spines, each about 3 inches long.

GM:- First: 1 Hp to everyone for teamwork, and for taking the non-aggressive approach.

Second: I'm going to 'GM fiat' the Initiative Order on this, partly to give a few PCs a chance to shine...


Shortcut

Technomancer

Buzz

Semilla

Shortcut


Your move.

[FuzzyBoots]

Buzz
HP: 1
Status: Bruised 1

Buzz watched, agape.
"Well shit... that can't be good. Semillia, are they friendly? Can we risk not blasting them down?"

OOC: ^_^ I know, my initiative count is lower, but I felt like she should react somehow

[flynnarrel]

Semilla
hp 1

Semilla coughs from the wind being knocked out of her. She raises herself to an elbow, surveying the scene.

"I think..... They're.... seed pods, they need to be gathered up, all of them, each one could conceivably spawn a new plant. We need to get them and give them to Norcs for storage, maybe study. Technomancer, can you antigrav the flying ones so they can't spread? Buzz and Shortcut, gather the pricklers and any landed flyer pods. We'll ned to be thourough. Well also need to tell NORCS to check this place regularly, in case we miss some."

[sirzanek]

OOC- So, just for clarification, is Shortcut acting pretty much right after the blast, after the blast and the things have landed, or after the blast/landing/conversation? Order will determine whether he tries a cool heroic stunt or merely offers insight into the situation. Apologies for my hectic schedule throwing the rhythm.

[flynnarrel]

I'd say go for cool stunt regrdless of coversation. I'll edit what Semilla said accordingly.

[Bluecross]

GM:- Shortcut is the first of you to react with something more than words... right after the blast - the 'Flyers' and 'Grabbers' are still sailing through the air...

So he moves first in the Initiative Order. Of course anyone can talk to others at any time, as long as it's not more than would be a Free action.

IOW, cool heroic stunt would be most awesome.


I hope everyone is OK with me 'GM fiating' the Initiative Order here just for this scene.... ?

I want to give Shortcut a chance to lead the action, and it kind of fits where everyone is and what everyone is doing, so not completely unrealistic (I think...).

[sirzanek]

Shortcut
HP: about to be 0
Condition: Bruised, Injured

Things processed really quickly for Shortcut. Seeing the rat, then hearing the boom and seeing the seed pods fly snapped him into action without a lot of rationale thought. The air sparkles like the stadium at the Olympics as literally thousands of tiny Rip Disks flicker randomly into existence all over the place, only to wink out again. Shortcut's hand's glow as the other ends of the portals coalesce into a pair of disks, creating a perpetual shower of seed pods. Corey drops to one knee breathing heavily, "Touching these not a good idea. Look at the rat," Corey weakly nods his head over towards the dessicated carcass. "These things seem to take root in a host organism. Any ideas for some kind of inorganic container? I hadn't thought that far ahead..."

OOC- OK, surging to stunt Deflect Slow and Fast projectiles 12 (Area extra, Flaw- Side Effect: Wipeout (Drain Dex 12 Total fade, Slow fade 1), Paralyze 11 (Slow only), Drawback- Power Loss Rift Shield for as long as Catch lasts, Precise Feat). That should make it possible for everything in the area to get the benefit of a deflect roll vs. the seed pods. The Deflect roll is 1d20+12=14. And that is exactly why Shortcut took the fatigue, so a hero point to re-roll that disaster gets us 1d20.minroll(11)+12=23, the minimum possible. OK, well, hopefully that works and Corey ends up Slowed with an effective Dexterity of 6 for 12 minutes, but having safely caught all of the pods in an infinite cascade between his hands. I think I did that right. Flashy but dumb. Of course if this is a general area attack, it is totally useless... ah well.

[Bluecross]

GM:-


Shortcut


There's a moment of indecision in the group as the seed pods begin to scatter outwards and upwards. No-one quite seems sure how to deal with this now problem until Corey seizes the moment. Realizing that his powers are perhaps best suited for the situation, he pushes himself to the very limit, working like a maniac to create a multiplicity of small portals, each taking in a seed pod and directing them to the two home portals Corey creates.

The effort it takes is immense, superhuman even, leaving Corey just about completely drained. But he seems to have caught all of the pods, both the flyers and the grabbers.

GM:- That was a magic moment. Awesome and creative way of dealing with the situation, sirzanek.

If I understand correctly, the pods are falling through each of the two portals in turn, creating an endless loop. Is that correct?

All Players

The master plant thing stands before you as only a stump, the split and burst remains lying around it. Somehow Shortcut seems to have caught all the seed pods before any could hit the ground, or anything else.

GM:- Anyone can act, since Shortcut has 'defused' things, for now.

[poodle]

Technomancer
HP 5 (I think)

"I think the big one is connected to something up the hill...

[Bluecross]

GM:-


Technomancer

Surveying the scene, Travis is alerted by another bleep from his sensor suite. This time it's something moving - something pretty large and long, coming up the hill towards them, from lower down and off to the right.



Semilla

Semilla also picks up something moving over the ground - it moves quite fast, and smoothly, like a 'wave' rather than footsteps.

[poodle]

Technomancer
HP 5 (I think)

"Man, this place sucks. There's something else coming up the hill. I'm guessing that the carnivorous plant wasn't feeling friendlyI told ya so."
Travis readies his Blaster and scans the area from his new altitude.

[flynnarrel]

Semilla

Semilla scrambles to her feet. "It's coming in quick and steady, not running but ... flowing."
Semilla scatters seeds and prepares to pour life into them to create a barrier.